My present invention relates to an appliance or device for carrying out vibration and percussive therapy for the treatment of pathology relating to the bone, musculature and lungs of an individual or for prophylaxis against a disorder or simply as a device for promoting the wellbeing of a human organism.
In German Patent DE-OS 196 34 650 there is described an appliance for vibration therapy in which an oscillation generator is driven by a drive shaft connected to or forming part of an electric motor and has an oscillating head. The head is connected to the oscillation generator at an angle to the axis of the drive shaft so that a wobbling motion is imparted to the head.
In practice it has been found that this system is too heavy for incorporation in a hand-held massager device so that the range of usage of the prior system has been limited. Fabrication is also complicated and hence the manufacturing cost is high. The construction in this document is, moreover, prone to rapid wear. Other drawbacks of prior art systems of this type include the nondismountability and the nonreplaceability of the oscillating head so that it is not possible to change the head for various applications for which the device may be desirable. Accordingly, the versatility of the device is very limited.
It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a compact light weight device for the purposes described which has a range of uses far greater than those of the prior art systems and which can be fabricated at a reduced cost.
Another object of the invention is to provide a hand-held massage device capable of performing vibration and percussive therapy and which enables the oscillating head to be replaced by others, depending upon the particular purpose and use of the device.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a device for vibration and percussive therapy which is free from drawbacks of the prior art.
These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained in accordance with the invention with a device for vibration and percussive therapy which comprises:
a housing;
a motor on the housing;
a bearing on the housing;
a shaft journaled in the bearing and driven by the motor, the shaft having a stub extending beyond the bearing;
an oscillation generator having a body formed with an axial bore receiving the stub of the shaft and an eccentric portion inclined to an axis of the shaft and the bore; and
an oscillating head receiving the eccentric portion and oscillated thereby upon rotation of the shaft by the motor.
The oscillation generator according to the invention has a shoulder which rests against an annular surface or shoulder between the drive shaft and the stub on which the oscillation generator is mounted and which projects beyond a ball bearing in which the shaft is journaled on the housing. The portion of the oscillation generator on which the head is replaceably mounted is preferably a pin whose axis is inclined to the axis of the shaft and the aforementioned shoulder.
A rotation of the shaft swings the pin and imparts a wobbling motion to the oscillation head which, according to the invention, is rotatable on this pin in ball bearings so that the center of motion of the head remains more or less constant while the remaining functional surfaces of the head wobble and have a three-dimensional movement.
The oscillation generator is not itself journaled in the housing and is so carried by the drive shaft that the latter is the part which is journaled in the housing and is supported by the housing bearing.
The configuration of the oscillation generator in combination with the mounting of only the drive shaft in bearings enables a substantial reduction in the dimensions and weight of the device, by comparison with earlier systems, and allows the device to be substantially more compact. Since the oscillation generator is mounted on the stub of the shaft beyond the bearing supporting same, a replacement of the oscillation generator and of the head carried thereby is greatly facilitated.